RUI: Child Custody Litigation: Does the Quality of Judicial Decision-Making Influence Functioning?

California State L A University Auxiliary Services Inc., Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

The proposed research will examine whether and how variation in judicial decision making affects the psychological and health-related adjustment of families after child custody litigation. This proposed research will be the fourth phase of a longitudinal study (UCI Child Custody Study) that was conducted as part of the author's dissertation research. The study will retain the subject pool (N=117), and the main features of the original research. A longitudinal, repeated-measures design and MANOVA and multiple regression procedures will be used to examine whether procedural and distributive justice are related to measures of family adjustment in the long term. This proposed study will establish a first, direct link between parents' subjective courtroom experience and evidence of subsequent long-term adjustment. Findings that families are influenced in their adjustment by their perceptions of the quality of judicial decision-making could have far-reaching implications for the work of research psychologists as well as that of health and legal professionals. Involvement in the research process will also, contribute to the educational development of undergraduate and Master's Degree students.